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SPN AUG 2012 Pool&SpaIndustry
www.swimmingpoolnews.co.uk SOMERSET HOT TUBS ON THE MOVE
A Somerset couple who moved successfully from hiring hot tubs to selling Vita Spas and Catalina Spas in the West Country make a move into their own showroom for the first time
eople who start hot tub businesses can often trace the origins of their involvement in the trade to an unusual or even bizarre set of circumstances. It was the same for Garry and Tracey Leach, the couple who now run Somerset Hot Tubs and who moved their business this month into their own Bridgwater showroom.
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“It was a bit bizarre how we got started in all this. We’d been married for a while – no kids and we had it all planned out in front of us. We wanted to buy a big hot tub. I was going to finish my helicopter licence and upgrade my motorbike.
we started out hiring out hot tubs. We did the hire only side of things for three years which worked really well and then in 2007 we moved into the garden centre site and started selling Vita Spas.” The business has been trading ever since at a site in premises owned by Monkton Elm Garden Centre outside Taunton. It is an outdoor site and can be restrictive in bad weather. Somerset Hot Tubs are dealers for Vita Spas and for the last two years have added Catalina Spas to their range.
They sell hot tubs throughout most of the south west from Bristol and Avon down through
“We are actively involved with the association and use them as much as we can especially for things like water training days and movement of dangerous goods seminars which are excellent”
Then Tracey fell pregnant and it all changed. “The bike never happened and we bought a Spa-N-A-Box model and Tracey then thought we could hire them out as a business and that’s how
to half of Devon which they share with another Vita Spa dealer.
Says Garry: “We’ve been in the garden centre site for five years and the chance to move
indoors to our own site in Bridgwater was just too good to miss. We only have 1,000 sq ft of space but it will allow us to have six spas on display all the time. It also means we are under cover and will be a significant change for us and the business. I think it was time we moved away from the garden centre option.” They moved into the showroom at Bridgwater’s Acord Park last month.
The Catalina and Vita Spa ‘double act’ works well for them says Garry, offering a variety in price and options for customers.
“The significant thing for us with Catalina Spas is their swim spas which are considered one of the best on the market.” Business is seasonal but steady, he adds. “Where things have changed is at the bottom end of the market for hot tubs below £4,000. That market is very tough and has been suffering. Where once upon a time people would spend £2,500 or £3,000 on a hot tub and forsake taking a holiday I think they are now taking the holiday instead. Sales of tubs in the £6,000 plus range still sell well he adds.
Garry and Tracey still dabble in hiring out the famous Spa-N-A-Box hot tubs and have been supplying them for the annual NFL American football visit to Wembley which takes place every year and where there is always a call for two portable tubs to be available for the players. It was while the couple were very heavily involved in just hiring out hot tubs around the country that they first became involved with trade association BISHTA. They have been enthusiastic members since 2005.
“We wanted to be seen to be controlled by and involved with a code of ethics and correct training systems. It helped our credibility a lot. We are actively involved with the association and use them as much as we can especially for things like water training days and movement of dangerous goods seminars which are excellent. We tend to fall back on them for any advice. I think for a company like us it is good to know there is as trade association there if you need them.” spn
i FOR FURTHER INFORMATION Garry and Tracey Leach celebrate the move with Richard Hart from Vita Spas (left)
F SOMERSET HOT TUBS ( 01934 412320 :
www.somerset-hottubs.co.uk
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